Lester’s still got a bee in his bonnet about those cross-division rivalries. But now he wants to make you feel guilty about it if you disagree with him.

“I trust they will recognize with the upcoming playoff, and with the BCS bowls being so important, everyone should shoulder the burden of playing the better teams,” Miles said. “Everybody.”

I’m supposed to give up support of the oldest rivalry in the South because Miles’ fair play fee-fees are hurt? Screw you, Les.

But I do have a suggestion to calm the man’s troubled soul. I’ve said most of it before – move the two Alabama schools to the East and switch Missouri to the West. That solves the bulk of the cross-division problems. My new candidate for the last transfer is South Carolina, since the ‘Cocks are backing LSU’s play. If longstanding rivalries don’t matter to the folks in Columbia, then not having Georgia and Florida on the schedule every year shouldn’t bother them in the least.

31 responses to “Rivalries are in the eye of the beholder.”

To go even further why even have divisions? Lets play it like the nfl. Only have one or two yearly rivals, and randomize the schedule. Don’t even have to play home and home (outside of the rivals that are kept) as long as every team gets 4 home and 4 away games. Let the top 2 teams play for the sec title. If there are 3 or more teams tied for the best league record use rules based on what we have for the divisions now. I mean the scheduling experts that did such a good job with what we have now couldn’t possibly mess that up… Right????

Senator….That’s kind of mismatched trade don’tchathink? Switching the two teams that combined to win the last four BCSNCs for two alltime also-rans!! The only team for LSU to beat in the West would be aTm whereas the East would be a free for all top to bottom, at least until you get to UK.

(1) South Carolina is a temporary top 10 at best. USCe has never won an SEC Championship and in its entire existence only won 1 conference championship–the ACC back in the late 60s. Look for the Dicks…er…Cocks to fall back to earth when Spurrier hangs it up in the next couple of years. (2) UT is tied with the Cats at best. (3) Auburn does not equal Bama but Auburn historically has a winning percentage that is only about 5% below Bama, is on a par with Georgia and Florida, and is substantially higher than Mizzou or South Carolina.

(1) That’s what people were saying about the Gators when Spurrier was hired at UF. (2) Agreed. My point was that the East isn’t as fearsome even after the changes as ND suggests. (3) Again, Miles couldn’t care less about Auburn’s history. The reality is that with the exception of Cam’s year, the program has been in a steady decline since 2004.

Another way to accomplish a major shake-up in the SEC would be to move UGA to the West. FU could be our cross-division game. But who would get shifted to the East from the West? LSU? That would make for an interesting dynamic. LSU would play FU every year as a division game and probably keep Ole Miss as the cross-division rival game. They could dodge Bama that way.

Brando on this big today. He says forget tradition. I don’t care how good or bad they are, playing Missouri yearly and Auburn occasionally would be a dumb new tradition. If they switched Auburn and Missouri, Bama would be screaming to play Auburn yearly and one regular crossover could be preserved cause Bama said so. Let Miles and Spurrier hand pick their crossover and the rest draw out of a hat and be done with it.

Now if you want to reconfigure divisions every 3-4 years, then yeah, looking at only the last few years and making determinations based off that will work just fine. But if you want the divisional assignments to be more permanent, then more needs to be taken in account.

I understand there’s no absolute fairness in scheduling and never suggested anything of the sort.

When they created the divisions in 92, the top 6 programs in the conference were considered to be Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee (in no particular order). Arkansas and South Carolina were second tier. It just so happened that these programs split up perfectly geographically and allowed a natural divisional alignment.

I think you’d have a hard time convincing the majority of people that those 6 programs aren’t still the 6 elite ones. Sure, A&M and South Carolina are making strides. Arkansas has had its moments at times. Mizzou had some flashes in the Big 12. Things can change, and are changing, but to put Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee (5 of the blue bloods of college football) in the same division, while the other has LSU, A&M, Arkansas, SC, and Missouri (1 or 2 blue bloods and 2 or 3 wannabes depending on how you look at it)…well, those matchups just aren’t equal.

You can disagree. That’s cool. But I disagree with you. And I think the majority of folks would too.

I think you’re trying to have it both ways with your elite status argument, though. Auburn enjoyed middlin’ success until the 80’s. Florida didn’t win a legitimate conference title until Spurrier’s arrival. If you didn’t need much of a track record in ’92 to be considered elite, why do you need more of one now?

The strengths of teams vary over time. I suspect it evens out over the years. Les ought to quit crying like a baby. He should have more pride. I and sick and tired of all the pussy coaches complaining and whining.

Senator, just a thought but, the “quote of the day” has been “the quote of the day” for some time now. Maybe you should think of changing it to “the quote of the day until there’s another quote worth titling the quote of the day” or something of the sorts.

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“I didn’t know I got criticism,” Richt quipped, feigning incredulousness. “It’s just the nature of the beast. If you can’t take criticism, then you shouldn’t coach.” -- AJ-C, 7/21/15